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A Cut Above Plastic and Silicone Components Housings and Enclosures
Ionthis Plastic Contract Manufacturing
Ionthis manufactures custom Plastic and Silicone Housing, Components, and Gaskets. We manufacture Plastic components and enclosures routinely from ABS, PC, PC/ABS PE, and others. Also, we manufacture silicone and rubber gaskets, seals, and components to FDA, TS 16949, or any other standard, injection molding or compression molding. We even offer DFM services to take your current say sheet metal design and modify your design to be used in Plastic or silicon, saving you more time and money.
What makes Ionthis a unique Plastic and Silicone Component Manufacturer is that we can offer our customers choices on processes options of Plastic and silicone to best suit their design, production market, and cost requirements. Understanding their requirements allows our customer to make their best-informed decision and not force-feed them only one process such as plastic injection molding. To understand each process’s differences and positives and negatives, please see our section “Plastic Product Manufacturing Explained” under MFG Processes explained.
Plastic & Silicone Contract Manufacturing Capabilities
Plastic Machining:
Plastic machining is only limited to the quantity required. There are numerous machining processes available almost any part can be machined on any plastic material, Thermoplastic or Thermos-Catalytic Plastic. Before 3D printing, this was the choice for prototyping. However, now there are still areas where this will save you $s in lower quantities Items to consider:
- NRE/Mold Cost: 0
- MOQ: 1-100
- Material: almost any thermoplastic or Thermos-Catalytic Plastic
- Some areas cannot be machined due to the geometry
Plastic Injection Molding:
Plastic injection molding uses thermoplastic material. Thermoplastic simply means it melts with heat. In the Plastic injection molding process, the plastic injection molding machine melts the plastic then injects the plastic into a mold forming the part. Items to consider:
- Plastic Injection Molding NRE/Mold Cost:$$
- MOQs: 250-500 on smaller simple parts, 1000-5000 on complex and larger parts
- Martial: numerous material options with thermoplastics: ABS, PC, PP, PE, Acrylic, HPDE, Nylon, and many more.
LSR (Liquid Silicon Rubber) Injection Molding:
LSR (Liquid Silicon Rubber) Injection Molding is very similar to thermal-plastic injection molding except the Silicine / LSR is mixed from 2 types of material completely mixed together and then injected into a HOT mold that vulcanizes the material. Items to consider:
- NRE/Mold Cost:$$$$
- MOQs: 1000+++
- Materials: Silicon and Rubber Materials
Rubber & Silicone Compression Molding:
The compression molding process uses a simple mold in a simple press. The Silicone or rubber material is premixed and then put in the compression molding and is heated and vulcanized. Items to consider:
- Compression Molding NRE/Mold Cost:$
- Compression Molding MOQs: 250+, ideally 500+
- Compression Molding Materials: Silicon and Rubber Materials
Additional FULL-SERVICE Contract Manufacturing Capabilities
FULL-SERVICE means the contract manufacturer can provide you with a finished Plastic and Silicone part such as assembly, silk screening, fastener installation, and more. Ionthis is a “one-stop-shop. “ This eliminates having to resend out your part for a secondary process to separate multiple vendors. The significant advantage to this is you now only have one source responsible for your quality and on-time delivery needs for your plastic and silicone parts. Below are our typical but not limited to capabilities for plastic and silicone parts:
- Powder Coat
- Fastener Installation
- Sheet Metal Components
- Plastic Heat Stake
- Assembly
- Silk Screen Single or Multi-Colored
- DFM/Design For Manufacturing
- Indoor and Outdoor use, up to IP68
- Bulk packed or individually packed for wholesale or retail sales
- Optionally as semi or complete box builds including hardware, PEMs, standoffs, internal brackets, wire harnesses, PCB assemblies or other components I-on-this manufactures at additional significant cost savings.
We Contract Manufacture but not limited to
- Waterproof Housings IP68
- Faceplates
- Mechanical Components
- Gaskets
- FDA Components
- Chassis
- Cabinets
- Enclosures
“Cradle to Grave” CONTRACT MANUFACTURER
“Cradle to Grave” means as your product matures, we will continually give you suggestions (process changes, material changes, sub-assemblies) to reduce your cost giving you an improved sales advantage. An example would be perhaps at the beginning of marketing your product, and you need prototypes or demo models when you would machine your parts from a solid block of plastic and powder coat.
Next, if your volumes are low, and you do not want to invest in Plastic Molds and tooling and to manufacture a large quantity. Ionthis could make an aluminum mold and produce lower volumes until you prove your market and design before spending the $ on a high production steel mold. Your NRE investment would be low, but the part price might be higher but absorbable on a plastic aluminum mold. When your volume gets high enough to justify, molds Ionthis can move you into a high production plastic steel mold. If you are looking at Silicone or rubber parts, we can start with compression molding over plastic injection molding.
This is “Cradle to Grave.” Please see our section “Plastic Product Manufacturing Explained,” under MFG Processes explained for more information on this and the processes.
For a DFM/Analysis and recommendations of your plastic component or assembly, feel free to contact Ionthis at engr@ionthis.com